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Hardwood in Kitchen?

We are renovating our 1920's kitchen by opening up a wall between the kitchen and dining room. I want to keep the character of the house and feel that I should put hardwood in the kitchen. Also, what I put in the kitchen, I have to put in the dining room section which will now be part of the kitchen. I also have a sitting room that flows from the dining room, so presumably I should have the same flooring. I have a big dog who takes a drink of water and drips it all over the floor all the way to his destination. I am very hesitant to put a wood floor in the kitchen. My designer (who's my brother!) promises that if we put 4 coats of oil on the floor, the water won't damage it.

I keep reading good things about hardwood in the kitchen. In fact, I have never read a bad thing, which makes me suspicious! Does anyone have any experience with hardwood in the kitchen--good or bad? Would you do it again?

Re: Hardwood in Kitchen?

We had hardwood in our kitchen in a home we owned 17 years ago. It had a Swedish finish applied in place. The floor was okay, in my mind, until I dropped my KitchenAid mixer on it. It got a big ding. We have tile now, but I think if I was to do it over, I'd go with linoleum or vinyl again.

Re: Hardwood in Kitchen?

We have hardwood floors in our kitchen that have been there for over 120 years. One thing is never wax the floors. Use a good floor rated oil based poly and just damp mop it. It does require maintenance. about every 10 or 12 years we buff it with steel wool and apply a new coat of poly. Be sure to use hardwood, ours are oak, it's prety hard to dent.
Jack

Be sure you live your life, because you are a long time dead.-Scottish Proverb

Re: Hardwood in Kitchen?

Fifteen years ago, our new old house had hardwood throughout... All but the kitchen and breakfast room. We had red oak floors installed in the kitchen/breaffast room... Then had the entire house refinished and three coats of poly throughout. We love our floors. It's just the two of us, so the floors are still very beautiful!

Only the kitchen, breakfast room, and three small closets had linoleum and I was determined to have all hardwood and all on the same level. No "bump-up" to get into/out of the kitchen/dining room. Everyone said they would not do it and that it couldn't be done... Well, that's all they had to say to me! Very difficult, but I ("said the Little Red Hen") did it myself! I got it down to the subflooring (That's another story!) and then had the red oak installed and "meshed" into the existing floors. The "new" floor looks as old as the rest of the house!

Re: Hardwood in Kitchen?

I have done more hardwood floors in kitchens than anything else in the last 20 years of designing them.
Your drippy doggie is a bit of an issue, but I wouldn't let that stop me if I were you.
Years ago we always did the Swedish finishes (Glitsa - very toxic - you have to move out for days), but nowadays I recommend water-based finishes instead.
Why?
Because you can renew the finish in traffic areas yourself. It's no harder than thoroughly cleaning first and then applying floor polish.
If you keep up the finish you will never have to refinish.
A lifetime floor! And nontoxic too!
I have a page on flooring for kitchens on my web site where I discuss all the viable options in detail.
Hardwood is my favorite unless the substrate is concrete.

Re: Hardwood in Kitchen?

I have done more hardwood floors in kitchens than anything else in the last 20 years of designing them.
Your drippy doggie is a bit of an issue, but I wouldn't let that stop me if I were you.
Years ago we always did the Swedish finishes (Glitsa - very toxic - you have to move out for days), but nowadays I recommend water-based finishes instead.
Why?
Because you can renew the finish in traffic areas yourself. It's no harder than thoroughly cleaning first and then applying floor polish.
If you keep up the finish you will never have to refinish.
A lifetime floor! And nontoxic too!
I have a page on flooring for kitchens on my web site where I discuss all the viable options in detail.http://www.kitchenartworks.com/flooring.htm
Hardwood is my favorite unless the substrate is concrete.

Always buy extra material and store it away for emergency patching. Especially if using prefinished material. Hardwood floors are easily repaired, even by a do-it-yourselfer. It is also easy to get matching material from a flooring supplier, if it is the typical red oak. Just chisel out a piece and take it to your supplier for identification.

Re: Hardwood in Kitchen?

I have oak floors in my kitchen and I just love them! They are softer underfoot than tile. And the occasional dropped object does not “break” the oak floor like it would tile. It requires minimal care – I sweep or vacuum it every week – and just wipe up spills with a damp cloth. It looks beautiful. I wouldn’t want anything but a real wood floor in my kitchen.

Re: Hardwood in Kitchen?

I have birdseye maple floors in my kitchen and they have worn exceedingly well for the past 15 years. I am a kitchen designer and use wood floors in most kitchens. That being said, however, there are sometimes issues like your dog. Another possibility might be running the wood into the kitchen as a border(in order to keep your continuity)and insetting with ceramic tile. Perhaps there would be a way to make it all tile where the dog bowl goes? You must be aware of the issues this brings up, however: same thickness of material & cleaning methods (neither of which should be a big deal, though).
Kathy

Re: Hardwood in Kitchen?

Terry322 what did you decide?
I am also contemplating hardwood in the kitchen. It was suggested by a friend to do a floating hardwood floor. If there was every a bad water spill I could easliy take up the damage planks and replace. Of course that means purchasing a bit extra to have on hand.